Peter Wizzer Wilson

Vice Admiral Mat Winter, F-35 Program Executive Officer, said: “Completing F-35 SDD flight test is the culmination of years of hard work and dedication from the joint government and industry team​.

“Since the first flight of AA-1 in 2006, the developmental flight test program has operated for more than 11 years mishap-free, conducting more than 9,200 sorties, accumulating over 17,000 flight hours, and executing more than 65,000 test points to verify the design, durability, software, sensors, weapons capability and performance for all three F-35 variants.”

He added: “Congratulations to our F-35 Test Team and the broader F-35 Enterprise for delivering this new powerful and decisive capability to the warfighter.”

The final SDD flight occurred April 11, 2018 at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Mayrland.

BAE Systems engineers build parts of the F-35 at a specially-built hi-tech facility at Samlesbury.